Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

Constituency candidates may only use one of the following descriptions:1

• the word Independent
• the registered party name of one registered political party
• the registered party names of two registered political parties

Constituency candidates cannot use any of a party’s registered descriptions.

If a candidate wishes to use a party name, this must be authorised by the party’s Nominating Officer (or a person authorised to act on their behalf).2  

If the description on the nomination form matches one contained on our register of political parties or is a registered party name, a certificate of authorisation, signed by on or behalf of the party’s Nominating Officer, must be submitted by the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers which is 4pm, 23 working days before the poll.3

Where the word Scottish is not part of the registered party name, the party name on the nomination form can have the word Scottish included in front of it. If the registered party name starts with the word the, the word Scottish can be inserted after the word the on the nomination form.4

You can check who the Nominating Officer for a particular party is by referring to the Commission’s register of political parties. However, as long as the person who has issued the certificate claims that they have been authorised to do so by the registered Nominating Officer, the certificate should be taken at face value.

A Nominating Officer may stand as a candidate. If this happens, the candidate, as Nominating Officer, may authorise their own description. A person authorised by the Nominating Officer to issue a certificate of authorisation may also be a candidate and sign a certificate for their own nomination.

The form of the certificate of authorisation is prescribed.5

Candidates standing on behalf of two registered parties must use the registered names of both parties as their description but may include the word and between them.6 The benefit of adding the word and is that it makes it clear to voters that the candidate is standing on behalf of two parties.7 The candidate must submit a certificate of authorisation from each of the parties’ Nominating Officers (or persons authorised in writing to act on their behalf) by the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers.8

Examples

The Purple Party is the name of a registered political party. Provided they have submitted the necessary certificate of authorisation by the deadline, a candidate standing for that party at the constituency election can use any of the following names on the nomination paper:

• The Purple Party
• The Scottish Purple Party

The Poll Party and Vote Party are the names of two registered political parties. Provided they have the necessary certificates of authorisation, a candidate standing jointly for both parties can use any of the following descriptions:

• The Poll Party Vote Party
• The Poll Party and Vote Party
• The Poll Party and Scottish Vote Party
• The Scottish Poll Party Vote Party
• The Poll Party Scottish Vote Party
• The Scottish Poll Party and Vote Party
• The Scottish Poll Party Scottish Vote Party
• The Scottish Poll Party and Scottish Vote Party

The order of the above descriptions may also be changed, with the Vote Party appearing before the Poll Party.